Ahead of her debut EP Elvish, Stephanie Gilbert reflects on rediscovering her sense of wonder, trusting her songs and the enduring appeal of Marc Bolan.
Stephanie Gilbert describes her music as ‘rock n roll music to frolic to’, which gives you a fair idea of where her priorities lie. Having spent years playing guitar in Stockholm bands Sticky Baby and The Zaps, the songwriter is releasing her debut solo EP, Elvish, on 6 November through PNKSLM Recordings. Recorded with Martin ‘Konie’ Ehrencrona at Studio Cobra, its five tracks draw on her love of sixties psychedelia and early glam rock, alongside a desire to reconnect with the part of herself happiest among books, nature and her own thoughts. Her answers below are often brief, but leave room for some memorable images, including Marc Bolan wandering down Kingsland High Street.
For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?
I’m Stephanie Gilbert, I’m mainly from Stockholm, Sweden and I make rock n roll music to frolic to. I love 1960s sounds and mood. The songs I write are creatures I dreamed, lived or am about to conjure together with fuzzy guitars, big drums and surprises.
You’ve spent years playing guitar in bands, but Elvish is your debut EP under your own name. What made this the right moment to step forward?
It became lonelier not to.
Did writing for yourself change the kinds of ideas you felt able to follow?
Yeah, I stopped needing to understand everything I wrote and began letting the songs reveal themselves to me as I wrote them.
You’ve spoken about missing a version of yourself who spent more time with books, nature and her own thoughts. When did you notice you’d started to lose touch with her?
Probably a little bit every day since I was born. I remember being nine, looking at my hands and being amazed that they were mine. That I could move them. I’m interested in getting back to that kind of astonishment.
In ‘An Elf in the Modern World’, you’re trying to call that person back. Did writing the song help, or is she still proving difficult to find?
She has always been here, but the song helps.
Where did the title Elvish come from? What does that word let you express that a more ordinary one wouldn’t?
I feel ancient and younger than everyone at the same time. Elvish somehow contains that contradiction. A language that could maybe explain it all.
‘Melanie’ began as a song about a girl you knew in London, but you’ve said you came to recognise yourself in her too. What was it about her that stayed with you?
She was enigmatic. Porcelain skin, ice-blue eyes, an incredible smile. Everybody loved her no matter what she did to them. Then I got to know her and realised she wanted another life too.
You wrote ‘Melanie’ overnight and recorded it the next day without rehearsing with your band. What did you hear in that first take that made you want to keep it?
I had the hook for months but didn’t know what to do with it. Then suddenly the whole song came to me, part after part, lyrics, everything. I knew it was the one. You just know.
You made the EP with Martin ‘Konie’ Ehrencrona at Studio Cobra. What did he understand about these songs that helped you bring them into focus?
Konie and I have made two records together before. We can almost read each other’s minds by now. Mostly we talk about sixties rock n roll, psychedelia and our shared love for Small Faces. He understands where I’m trying to go before I’ve explained it.
You have a background in theatre, and your live shows sound quite physical and unpredictable. What happens to you onstage that doesn’t happen when you’re recording?
Before a show I almost disappear. I get low and quiet. Sometimes I want to run away. But don’t get me wrong, it’s still my life’s greatest pleasure, but it’s like a moment of alchemy has to happen first, and then when I walk onstage a greater power comes into me. I just follow what it wants to do.
Having lived and made music in both London and Stockholm, do those places bring out different sides of you as a writer?
London took a theatre nerd and made her a rock n roller. Stockholm is a great cocoon.
You’ve described the EP as the beginning of something you want to explore further on your debut album. What questions has making Elvish left you with?
My life changed completely while I was writing these songs. Elvish had to be learned; the album is delving into this arc of discovery.
What do you love right now?
Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. I know every second of it. The whole album is perfect. The Happiness Stan narration is phenomenal, and of course Steve Marriott is an inspiration.
What do you hate right now?
I hate hate.
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you.
Electric Warrior. Marc Bolan is everything to me. He’s the medieval elven king who somehow looks like he could still be walking down Kingsland High Street.
When someone hears your music for the first time, what do you hope sticks with them?
That they lose track of time.
